The Necklace
by I favor red wine
Summary: It's four years since the war ended, and an unexpected accident throws Hermione back to her fifteen-year-old self. She is faced with ghosts from the past and a different approach to life. Will she be able to change history with her knowlegde about the future?
1. It's time for a holyday

**This is the first fanfiction I have ever written, so bare with me.. Hope you like it, and please rewiew. Both good and bad**.

* * *

It was only six o'clock in the morning, but Hermione was wide-awake. She had always been a morning person, and after the war, a very light sleeping person. Therefore, it was not uncommon for her to wake early. She listened to the birds whom just had started to sing, and the distant murmur from the railway. Her alarm clock would not ring for an hour, so she decided just to wait, being too comfortable under the warm duvet to get up.

It was four years since the war ended, and life were starting to get back to normal, at least as normal it could get.

There had been some rough years following the war, and everyone was coping in different ways. Harry and Ginny had married the year before to Mrs. Weasley complete joy - Harry was finally a part of the family. They were busy remodelling Grimmauld's place to make it a decent home for a child to grow up. Tonks mother took care of Teddy, but they wanted a decent room for him and their future children to live in. They had unfortunately not found a way to get Sirius mother down from the wall, but they had discovered a mutespell that worked, making her stare with a look that could kill every time they went through the hall.

George was slowly getting back to himself, after dealing with the loss of his brother rather badly. To put it mildly he'd had a drinking habit worthy an elephant for almost two years. The family didn't know exactly what had pulled him out of it, none of their efforts had worked. Hermione and Ginny had concluded that Angelina were the cause of that, it seemed like she was able to reach him when his mind went dark and pull him back to the surface. The shop had somehow survived during George's drunken time, mainly because of Ron's help and George's stubbornness of not to give up Fred's legacy. The two remaining Weasley-children, Percy and Charlie, were still single men to Molly's despair, even though Ginny were quite sure Percy had a ting going on with his boss's secretary. She had a lot of fun teasing him, since the redness of his cheeks and glow in his eyes always were present when he talked about her. Which was often.

Hermione herself were in an on and off relationship with Ron, which at the moment were on. After the war, they had dated for a while, but all their fights came in the way of any development of the relationship.

Hermione sighted for herself, she did not know what to do about Ronald. She cared and loved him deeply, but it felt like something were missing between them. The passion she sensed between Harry or Ginny were nowhere to be found between her and Ron. She never had the bubbly and giddy feeling Ginny talked about when Harry touched her, and even though she and Ron had sex on regular basis, it felt more like an obligation than an act of lust, joy and love.

Hermione looked at the alarm bell again, 06.45, this had to do, she had spent enough time dozing in bed. She slowly got out of bed and went to the bathroom, turned the shower on and brushed her teeth while she saw herself in the mirror grimacing. Her hair was long, brown and curly, her skin were smooth and clean, and her lips full and red. Still, Hermione only saw a mess of a hair, redness in her skin and thin lips. She quickly finished brushing her teeth and went into the shower. The hot water relaxing her tense mussels.

She was ready Forty-five minutes later, and sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Ron were to pick her up at 08.00 before they went to Harry and Ginny. They had decided on a couple's holiday in Spain, just to get away from the stress that follow them everywhere. Ginny were a famous quidditch player, Harry was «the-boy-who-lived», she was overworked at the ministry and Ron (and Harry) were stressing about their auror duties. Ron also used a lot of his spare time with George, helping him out at the shop. Therefore, over some glasses of Firewisky and wine, they had decided to go on a holyday.

Ron came half passed eight on point, looking like he just wandered through a thunderstorm, Hermione could not help but giggle a little; he had never been a morning person. "You ready?" he said while he gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Yeah" she muttered smiling, he looked at her lovingly before rambling on to his excuse "sorry I was late, but could not find my luggage this morning… Turns out mother left it at Ginny's some days ago, assuming I could not pack my own cloths!" He rolled his eyes at the thought, making Hermione laugh harder. If Molly had left it there days ago, that meant that he had not thought about his luggage since then.

After a brief catch up they apparated to Harry and Ginny's, who were sitting in their kitchen reading the daily prophet, drinking their morning tea. " There you finally are!" Ginny shouted as they came into the kitchen. Ron started to explain the whole luggage thing, but Ginny waved him off while giving Hermione a hug. "So, you ready?" Harry said smiling at them. "Born ready," Ron answered. Hermione and Ginny just smiled and nodded.

* * *

Three hours later, they were settled in their hotel room. They had apparated to Spain, but the destination was a little off from their main goal, which made them wander the city for some hours before they found their hotel.

Hermione and Ron were changing into summer clothes. Hermione in a white tank top and a denim skirt, Ron in big shorts and a Hawaii shirt. Hermione felt Ron eyeing her up as he came closer and went in for a kiss. Hermione kissed him back with a smile on her lips. He slowly deepened the kiss and slipped through a little tongue, she felt his hands touching her waist slowly feeling its way up towards her breasts. Suddenly she felt this unpleasant feeling she often felt lately when Ron touched her. Quickly she ended the kiss, making Ron stare quizzically on her. "Sorry, I just need too…" She pointed toward the bathroom; "of course, go ahead," he answered, looking a little rejected while waving with his hand towards the loo. Hermione nearly ran towards the bathroom, after she locked the door she started to breathe heavily. What was this? Every time Ron went in for something more than a light kiss, she felt herself backing out. She knew she loved him, and that he loved her. It annoyed her that she seemed uncappable to show him any affection in a physical way.

She came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. Ron looked at her like he was about to say something. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he finally said, "shall we go then?" with a harsh voice. Hermione let out a breath she did not know she had held. She was frightened he would bring up the awkwardness around them; it was starting to get so obvious that they needed to talk about it. After all, they had not had sex for almost six months, and almost two years since they had sex sober. Every time he touched her, she ran away. We should talk together; this cannot go on longer she scolded to herself. It was not a conversation she longed for.

They went down to the beach, looking for a nice place to lay down to sunbath, the clock was barley one and the sun was high on the sky. "I like that necklace on you, it suits you," Ron said as they laid down on the towels. Hermione touched it immediately snapping her breath, "it was a gift from my parents, the last Christmas we spent together," she answered quick, maybe too quick she realised afterwards. "Oh, okay, it looks nice", he said as he gave her a reassuringly smile, thinking he had said something wrong. She quickly opened her book in front of her, trying to appear normal.

Her thoughts wandered off. It wasn't her parents who had given the neckless to her, it had been someone else. After the battle of Hogwarts, she had headed for Australia, in the hope of finding her parents again to restore their memory of her.

It had taken her longer than expected to find her them, and to her great horror figured out that she had been too throughout when she cast the spell. It turned out that it was permanent, and an attempt to remove it would most likely resolve in bigger damage. She had discovered that they had a good life, had made new friends and were genuine happy. Therefore, she had left Australia with great grief, but comforted by the thought that they were safe, alive an happy. Once a year she visited them to make sure they were fine, camouflaged as a tourist.

This had led to that she hadn't lived in a permanent place for almost three years. She had lived at the Burrow, her parents' old house and at Luna's, feeling that she could not stay at any one place for too long without becoming a burden. Therefore, about a year ago she Hermione sold her parents' house, the memories they brought back to painful to bear, and bought an apartment in the middle of muggle London. It was the first time she could settle down for now and call a place her own for the first time in her life.

When she moved in, she had carefully emptied the little purse she had brought with her ever since the wedding of Fleur and Bill, completely. She had been very shocked to find an old birthday present there, which someone must have slipped into her bag, not wanting the present to get too much attention. It was a necklace made of silver and something that looked like pink glass with sand inside. It was formed as a drop and was very beautiful with it simpliciality. Hermione liked to think of it as a tear that cried for everyone after the war. However, it was not the beauty of the necklace that caught her attention, it was the letter.

 _Happy birthday Hermione (even if it's not before September)!_

 _I have come to the understanding that you, Harry and Ron are to skip this year from school, which I am proud to hear. However, I cannot think of a worse company to spend several months with, especially my little brother, ickle ronniskis. I've heard a rumour that you are hunting old-mouldy, so I hope you guys have a good plan. If you need help, George and I are always here, remember that. I guess I just wanted to say, take care, good luck, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. Which leaves out everything... On another note, don't do anything I would do!_

 _Think of the present as a good-luck-charm._

 _Love, Fred._

It had left her crying for hours when she read it. Why he had given her a birthday present was for her baffling. Nevertheless, she appreciated it very much. They had never been the closet of friends, but they had been friends after all. Moreover, the thought of him being dead was still unbearable, four years later. She had showed it to George, who had just stared at her with big eyes.

"I don't know why he gave it to me, but I'm thankful… Sorry I should not have come with this to you…" she had said, regretting coming to the shop. George looked like he did not know what to say.

"He cared a lot for you, you know? He never said anything but the way he looked at you… Never mind it is too late now…", Hermione was startled, what did he mean by that?

"eeh, okay?" she had said, not sure how to continue.

"He knew you and Ron were meant to be, so he never said anything. He made it of some broken time travellers we once found at the ministry, » he finally said. She had gone home very confused that day, hoping that she could will herself to not understand what George had implied.

* * *

Hermione was not able to focus on the book in front of her, and with an annoyed huff let her thoughts fell back to what George had told her. It had most defiantly suggested that Fred had liked her, maybe even been in love with her. However, she could not remember, even if it was to save her own life, a time where he showed her some interest of that sort. It is too late to dwell on the past she soberly told herself. Hermione looked at the inviting blue ocean, and suddenly decided to go for a swim.

It was nice feeling the cold water against her skin, cooling her down from the burning sun. She laid on swim, feeling the freedom that water was able to give her. It felt like she was flying, without the angst for falling following her.

Hermione didn't notice how fare from the shore she had gotten, she just concentrated on swimming as perfect she could. Suddenly she felt something tugging her foot, and she felt herself being down. She fiercely tried to fight it off, kicking her feet to all directions. When she looked down, she saw nothing, the was an invisibly force dragging her away from life. Her head was three meters under the surface when she looked up; the sun was shining down in the water at her as she tried desperately to reach the air. Her neckless floated in front of her, the sun making it shine with all the colours of the rainbow. She grabbed it desperately, as if that was the last thing keeping her alive. Suddenly she could not hold her breath anymore, and she gaped for air and breathed in the salty water, swallowed and felt it fill her lung. She felt the anger and despair over dying in a stupid ocean.

Had she survived the war against Lord Voldemort for nothing?

* * *

AN: Hope you liked it, please review!


	2. Seven is the strongest macical number

Hermione woke up in a bed, which seemed strangely familiar. She was soaked in her own sweating, gasping for air as it felt like she had not taken a breath for ages.

"Hermione, you alright?" She heard Ginny's voice coming from the other bed.

"Yes, I'm fine" she choked out "turns out it was just a bad dream" she continued. As she let herself relax, she found it strange that she was sharing a room with Ginny. Then realised that it had not been a dream.

She quickly got up from her bed and turned the lights on. Grimmauld's place she noted, that was where she was.

"You look so young" was all she was able to say while staring with big eyes at Ginny. "Hey! I'm not that young, I am fourteen now, for your information» Ginny said, looking a bit offended. "F-f-fourteen?" Hermione said in a high-pitched voice, feeling herself start to hyperventilate. She looked down at her hands, no scars, her arm were smooth and clean with no sign of Bellatrix's torture.

Ginny looked worried, "Hermione, are you alright? Merlin's beard, you are so pale!" her voice seemed distant, like it came through a tube from far away. Hermione's vision became blurred and she felt herself slowly slipping down on the floor, before everything went black.

"What's wrong with her?" a familiar voice said, "I don't know, she just woke up, went around in the room before just fainting". That was Ginny voice, she sounded scared and anxious. "Oh look, it seems like she is waking up!" it was the familiar voice again, but she could not quite remember who's voice it was. As Hermione slowly opened her eyes, she realised that she was lying on the floor, with three redheads staring down at her with worry in their eyes. The twins, wait the twins? There were no twins anymore, just George. However, there in front of her stood Fred, looking at her with a worried frown. Her eyes opened wide before she quickly threw herself at him in a hug. He seemed a little baffled, but returned her hug. "But, but, you're dead" was all she could master to say. He let go of her and smiled "nah, not dead, won't be for a while either". Hermione looked at them with big eyes with tears running down her face, before a realisation hit her. "Which day, no date is it today?" she slowly touched her neck, the necklace was still there, even though her cloths were changed. This was impossible.

"Eeh, Tuesday morning, 2. August 1995" George said. They all looked at her, giving each other some confused looks. Hermione just sat there, staring at Fred with an open mouth, thinking to herself.

"Hermione, what's wrong, you look like you just saw a ghost?" Ginny said, unaware of how true that actually was. Ginny's voice snapped her out of it, she had to act normal. She needed some time alone, to think.

"I'm so sorry guys; I just had a bad dream. Took me some time to snap out of it. We should go back to bed, long day tomorrow", she said while trying to fake a yawn. None of them seemed convinced, "you sure?" Fred said. "Yes, I'm sure, what are you guys doing here anyways?"

She looked at Fred and George who suddenly gave her their well-known mischief smile. "Well, you know us" George said, "always comes to the rescue when there is a damsel in distress" Fred finished. Hermione rolled her eyes at them before she got up from the floor and sat down at the bed. "Well, seems like our work here is done, so we'll head back to our beauty sleep" George said before both apparated away.

"Hermione what was that? You really scared me; you were gone for almost five minutes. Fred and George are just across the hall, so I ran over to them for help since they were closest" Hermione looked into her eyes, and saw honest concern for her. "I'm okay, promise. I only had a bad dream, and was convinced it was true when I woke up. Didn't mean to scare you". Ginny did not look convinced, but slowly she settled back into her bed, giving Hermione some suspicious looks. "Ginny, let's talk tomorrow, but right now I think the best we can do is try to get some sleep" she said with a determined voice. Ginny nodded and mumbled "okay, but we will talk about this tomorrow!"

Listening to Ginny's breath slowly settling down and turning into an even rhythm, Hermione finally allowed herself to think. All her senses told her that this was not possible, but somehow it seemed like it was. She touched the glass-drop again.

After all, it was made from several destroyed timeturners according to George, and each time turner had different magic locked to it. In addition, seven was the strongest magical number. Was it possible that in her attempts to survive the drowning, her soul had travelled with her memories, seven years back on the minute? After all, she was in her fifteen-year-old body, with no scars from the war. What did this mean? Had she been given a second chance, or was she just dead, trapped in a dream.

Was this her chance to change history?

I need to talk to Dumbledore was her last thought before she fell asleep.


	3. Everyone is alive

Morning came fast, and Hermione woke with a shock from Mrs Weasley's three firm knocks on the door. She realised that she had fallen asleep against the odds and quickly got out of bed to look for her cloths. Ginny joined her, though looking like she still was asleep.

While they went down the stairs, Hermione reminded herself to act normal, that she was fifteen years old and had no idea what was going on. It was quite difficult she realised as she sat by the table, Sirius opposite of her and Fred to her left.

Her first instinct when she saw Sirius was to run for a hug, but she had been able to pull herself together. There was no chance that blaming it on a bad dream as she had done the night before, that excuse was used. While she helped herself with some toast and eggs, the conversation around the table were lively. Molly was talking about the cleaning schedule for the day and Fred and George were entertaining their end of the table with some quite indecent jokes. Hermione felt herself enjoying every moment. Not that she found Fred and Georges jokes that funny, she found them quite distasteful to be honest, but seeing everyone healthy and happy made her heart warm, and almost teared her up.

"Fred, George, what in Merlin's name did you just say? I will not hear words of that nature from you two!" Mrs Weasly eyed her boys sternly from the stove. Fred and George quickly shut up while Ron and Sirius tried to look innocent; they had after all laughed the loudest at their jokes.

"Since all of you now have my attention, this is what we are up against today" Molly carried on with a firm voice, "we will clean out the rest of the bedrooms, two people at each room. Harry is coming soon and we are out of room for guests. Mad-eye, Thonks and Lupin are coming today and are to stay the night, so we need more clean rooms".

Hermione felt herself flinch at their names, they were alive. She had to make a mental note to whom she would meet again, and not act weird around. It was many, Lavendel Brown for example, not to mention Snape.

Fred and Hermione were cleaning out the old bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Black. Mrs. Weasley prohibited the twins to clean together, knowing they would get nothing done or just end up making some prank. Therefore, Fred was cleaning with Hermione, George with Ron and a sulking Ginny with Mrs. Weasley. She was not happy about the partner change. They had gotten strict orders not to use magic, and to start at the roof and work themselves out of the bedroom. If they found anything suspicious, they were to report to Mrs Weasley who would look at it. Hermione were busy cleaning the window, which were grey of dust, the corners covered with dead flies and spiders. Good thing Ron did not see this Hermione thought to herself with a smirk.

"Well, this have to do" Fred preached happy and jumping down from a chair. Hermione glanced up at the roof, which were much better than previously. "Think you forgot something" she said and pointed to a corner filled with spider web. "Oh, bloody hell" he moaned, looking tired. Carefully he glanced at the door, before he took out his wand, mumbled a spell and the web disappeared. "Don't you dare tell on me" he said and gave her a serious look. "Would not dream of it" she replied with a smile, "as matter of fact, could you do that on the window too? I have been scrubbing it for ages, but it does not get clean" frustration in her tone. Hermione had spent the last hour realising with horror that she was once again unable to use magic outside of school, and that it was over a year until she would be able to again. Fred seemed a little taken aback but did as asked of him with a surprised, but happy smile.

The window went blank, but still had a few dirty spots. "Thank you" she said, "it's so much easier to clean when the worst is gone." "Well, as said, I'm always there for a damsel in distress" he said with a teather bow, referring to last night. "Anyways, how are you? Have been meaning to ask you all day, you were quite a mess last night…" He was suddenly serious, and looked at her face searchingly. "I'm fine; it was just an awful dream. When I woke up, I believed many people were dead. I was totally convinced, took me some time to realise it was just a dream". To her annoyance, she felt tears build in her eyes so she quickly turned away from him so that he would not notice. Hermione did not consider herself as a person who easily cried, but all that had happened and the trauma of the last days kept her on edge. She had tried to stay as close to the truth as possible, knowing what a terrible liar she was. He seemed to believe her, as he looked rather sad.

They kept cleaning in silence for a while. As Hermione finished the window and started on the wall opposite of Fred he said, "There's no shame to be worried for the future, from the looks of it we're heading towards some dark times. All I can say is try to enjoy the good moments as they come, since there is no certainty they will last forever. That's what I try to do at least." Hermione stopped cleaning and turned to look at him, it was clear that his thought had been at dark places and was trying to comfort her the best he could. She smiled at him sadly and muttered a "thank you". She had never experienced this side of him before, the serious side of him. Fred turned too when he noticed her gaze in his back, "what?" he said, "stop staring at me like that, it's scary!", "I can be deep, too, you know" he said with a wink. Hermione smiled then, "I know, thank you, you are right. Being scared all the time does not help any of us." They kept cleaning in silence for a while, only interrupted by Mrs. Weasley who came in with some sandwiches for lunch.

After lunch, they were back to normal. The intense and heavy atmosphere in the room disappeared. Fred told jokes and Hermione laughed of them. She found herself much fonder of his jokes now, having been without them for so many years. Fred seemed different she thought, not realising that it was her, not him that had changed.

Suddenly the door opened with a bang, "it's dinner, you coming?" It was Ron, both Hermione and Fred had made a jump, surprised by the sudden company. Hermione had snapped out her wand and stood pointing at Ron - it was a reflex she had adopted after the war, always ready for emergencies. "Hey, relax, why are you pointing it at me," he said, looking a bit offended. "Sorry" Hermione muttered while she put her wand away, "you startled me."

* * *

She discovered that she was really hungry, and threw herself into the dinner with eagerness; after all, she had been working all day. She felt herself enjoying the company again; feeling the peace she had forgotten existed. The dinner dragged out, she and Ginny were entertained with Tonks many faces, laughing loudly. Ginny had not asked about Hermione's outburst the day before, and she was sure as hell not going to be the one bringing it up. She tried keep as little suspicion to herself as possible.

The evening was about to end and people slowly dragged themselves out of their chairs to get to bed. Sirius thanked Molly for a lovely dinner when Mundungus's voice could be heard in the hall. "Wasn't all my fault, the cauldrons…" He appeared in the entrance of the kitchen, and seemed surprised by all the people staring at him "Hey, um, eh, it is this that, er, Harry got, ehh".

"What about Harry?" Sirius said in a stern voice. «Well, eh, Harrygotattackedbydementores» he answered fast, looking at the floor. The whole room went silence. "HE WHAT!?" Mrs. Weasley shirked, "he's alright, he really can work that protonous charm good… Good teaching Lupin!" "Where were you? You're on watch today" Sirius said, looking more and more like the man on his prison photo by the second.

Mundungus didn't seem to have heard him, he just looked around in panic "where's Dumbledore, he needs to know" he said, "he's at Hogwarts, I'll go with you, can't trust you for a second" Mad-Eye replied as he took Mundungus by the collar and dragged him towards the fireplace.

The rest of the party sat down, everybody looking a bit stunned, what had just happened? Hermione slowly rested her head in her arm, how could she forget? She knew about it, but forgot, when did she get so dense?

Suddenly Dumbledore stood in the kitchen looking murderous. It was now very clear why Voldemort feared him. Mrs. Weasley pointed to the Weasley children and Hermione "you five, up to bed!" They immediately started arguing, but with a glance from Dumbledore, they all shut up and started walking up the stairs. "We'll let you know as soon as we know anything" They heard Sirius say apologetic as they exited the kitchen. As soon as the door was shut, Fred and George dug up some long-ears from their pockets and sneaked them under the door. All of them surrounded themselves around the ears and tried to listen. Hermione didn't particularly care, since she already knew what was going on but listened carefully as well, keeping up the appearance. After all, it seemed like she had forgotten a lot. She was lying in between Fred and Ginny, and was a little unfocused due to the fact that Fred's leg was lying close to hers, leaving no space between. The ear was only giving a summing tone, and they soon realised that the order had used a spell to keep them from hearing anything. Slowly they went up the stairs, all of them feeling helpless for Harry sake.

* * *

Late that night, Hermione snuck out of bed. Ginny was in deep sleep on the other bed, judging by her light snore (which she would deny with force if ever brought up to her). She carefully walked down the stairs, trying her best to avoid the steps that creaked. Grimmauld place was creepy at night, and the yet-to-be-cleaned living room was not a sight for easily creeped people at night. Which closet was it again, there was two, one next to the fireplace, and one next to the door. Trying to remember back, she was quite sure that Kreatcher had snuck in behind them, which meant the closet next to the fireplace. She quickly set to work, hoping to be quick and silent. After what felt like hours to Hermione, but in reality barley was fifteen minutes, she found it. The locket with Slytherin's family crest carved into the gold. Hermione looked at it in disgust, goose bumps covering her as she lifted it up. Just the thought of holding Voldemort's soul in her hand made her ill. She slowly she snuck back to her room and hid the locket in suitcase.

The next days was filled with silent conversations about Harry and the dementores. The Weasley children and Hermione were filled in on what had happened to Harry, and that he was soon to be brought to the safe place. Mrs. Weasley kept them busy during the day, cleaning the rest of the bedrooms. When the 5th of August ended, Harry entered the room she and Ron was chilling in. When Hermione saw him, she ran towards him and gave him a hug. It was weird to see him this young again, she had to get used to this she reminded herself.


	4. Do or tell

AU: I have changed the rating to M, bacause.. you'll see. I honestly dont know where the line betweeen T and M rating goes, so I just went with M so I can write what I want.

* * *

Hermione sat in the living room in a big comfortable couch, reading the fifth year's transfiguration book. It was nearly cosy now, after the brutal cleanup. The room was lit by the glow of the fire behind her and a little lamp on the table, bathing the room in a soothing yellow light. There was only three days until their return to Hogwarts and she'd figured it was no excuse to relax on the OWL's, even though it was her second time taking them. She knew she had forgotten a lot, and that it was a big chance that she would relive her life. That was no excuse for bad grades. A little bit of her wondered if she was in a coma and that all of this was a crazy dream. She could wake up any moment. On the other hand, she might be dead in her real life, and was given a second chance.

She really hoped that she was given this second chance.

While she read, completely engrossed in the book, she didn't notice the person silent slipping into the room. Hermione didn't notice him until he had dropped down on the couch beside her, put an arm around her shoulder and started to blow into her ear.

"Fred, what on earth are you doing!?" she exclaimed, getting goose bumps for more than one reason. He gave her a big grin, "I thought I'd keep you company, those dusty old books aren't as good company as a good ol' friend as me" he said. Hermione raised her eyebrows "as a matter of fact, 'these dusty old books,' are dear friends of mine, so please don't offend them." It really seemed like no one could understand that she actually enjoyed reading, as people constantly dragged her away from it, trying to make her have their idea of fun. However, she knew they meant it well, and you can't really stay angry at people for wanting to hang out with you. "Oh, my bad, sorry friends of Mione" he said patting the perm of the book she was holding. Hermione could to help the little giggle that escaped her, "thank you, they appreciate your apology."

"But honestly, reading this much will leave you near-sighted and squint-eyed, come on let's do something fun" Fred continued, and Hermione felt herself getting hyped up "I am not near-sighted nor squint-eyed, and as a matter of fact, I am having fun right here, reading this book" she said before she gently hit his head with the book. Fred just smirked before getting up; dragging Hermione with him "You are making time pace, not having fun Granger. Come on, I'll show you what fun is."

She let him drag her away, as a memory of this hit her. The last time she had been furious at the interruption and refused to go with him, this time around, she was rather curious to what Fred was up to.

* * *

Hermione was doing her perfect duties on the Hogwarts Express. She walked up and down the corridor and sent some second years back to their seats as they were blocking the corridor. She tried to keep herself busy, to avoid thinking about what had happened the other night, but it kept appearing in her mind, flushing her cheeks.

 _"So, what are we doing here?" she'd asked Fred as they entered a dark room. The room was small with a single bed in the corner and an old-fashioned cabinet next to it. There was a shelf over the bed with some books on. Fred sat down on the floor, gesturing her to do the same. "I was thinking we could drink this, while doing this," he said holding up a bottle of firewhisky and a stock of cards. Hermione looked at him, not shocked, this was Fred, but with a mixture of amusement and irritation._

 _She knew that she had already surrendered, she actually liked firewhisky and Fred's flirtatious grin was impossible to resist. She sat down on the floor opposite of him, "Where are your better half? Though he was more the company for that…" She'd said and pointed towards the booze. He laughed, «Mum interrupted my-less-better-half doing some things he should not do, and he is now cleaning the kitchen without magic." he finished with a smirk. "What kind of cards is that?" she asked while opening the bottle in front of her, and two glasses she spotted on the shelf._

 _«This my friend, is one the latest product from WWW, alongside with our skiving sancksboxes of course, but I figured you'll enjoy this more», he pulled the cards out of the purple box, and laid them out on the floor. "You know that muggle game, truth or dare?" He looked at her and she nodded. "Yeah, it's like that but we call it 'do or tell', on these cards there is one truth and one dare. One person is reading and another choose either a truth or a dare. The twist is that you must do or tell - it is impossible to resist. There is also a question-degree, with a flick of your wand you have light, medium and hard, all to your choice"_

 _Hermione felt herself irking to ask how they made this, as making someone do something usually meant the impero curse, and making someone tell something, most often meant veritifiserum. On another note, she was not exited to try it either – quite fond of having control of her body and mind._

 _"Does it work?" She said, still having some doubt. "Of course it does! At least on me, George and Lee.. But we haven't tried it on a female, and we are not really comfortable about trying some of the cards…" he said with a shudder. "So I'm your try-out rabbit?! Wait, what? Does that mean you will give me the freaky cards? I've changed my mind, not doing this" by now she was annoyed, the was no way in hell she'd do this. She started to get up, but was held back by Fred who pushed her back down on the floor. "We'll take the light cards, it's only on the hard cards the, eh, freaky ones as you put it are" he said, "come on, it's just for fun". She felt herself already regretting it as she took the glass of alcohol Fred was handing towards her, nodding an okay "I'm in on the easy cards" she said reluctant. "Cheers" he said and toasted her glass, both emptying it with a raised an eyebrow, he was expecting at least some coughing, but Hermione only refilled their cups with a pleased smile._

 _Several hours later they were both drunk and were laughing uncontrollable. Had Hermione seen herself with sober eyes she would've been quite embarrassed, but right know she was having too much fun to care. It was reviled that Hermione's first kiss had been with Viktor Krum, she had showed of her (very bad) tap dancing skills at a dare and it was reviled that she'd fancied Lockheart in her 2nd year, that was why they were laughing of at the moment. Fred had reviled that his first kiss was with a muggle girl he'd met on holyday when he was 11, that he could not sing opera and that he once fancied Pansy Parkinson because of her long legs (The question had been 'have you ever fancied someone which you are embarrassed by today, and who was it?'). They didn't notice that the cards shifted to medium when the light cards went out, or that it then shifted to hard._

 _Hermione took a card and said before looking at it "do or tell?"_

 _"Do" he said without hesitation._

 _"Kiss the prettiest witch in the room on the mouth" Her voice getting lower and lower as she read, eyes bigger and bigger._

 _"Wait, that's not a light card" he said examination the card._

 _Magically he was dragged closer and closer to Hermione, «we have to kiss he said, no escaping it» he looked something between scared and amused at the same time. It felt like a hand were pushing his head towards Hermione, she just looked at him with big eyes, stone face. Fred put one hand on her neck, and leaned in._

* * *

George was looking at his brother, which sat opposite of him. He had been acting weird for days now, and it was starting to annoy him. Like right now, he was staring out the window and biting his nails. It was only small things and he was sure no one else had noticed, but he knew his twin well, and was certain something was up. He decided to take action.

"Fred, what's wrong with you? You've been weird for days," George said as he threw him a chocolate frog. They were on the train back to Hogwarts and sat in a compartment which they shared with Lee, whom at the moment was using the loo. Fred didn't seem to have heard him as he started to rip the paper off the chocolate.

"Fred did you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah" he muttered and started to eat the frog.

"So? Why are you being a weirdo?" Gorege almost yelled, losing his patience.

"Fine" Fred exclaimed as he threw the paper towards the bin.

"You know that day you were cleaning the kitchen for mum?" Fred started.

"Yes I do, don't try to chance subject," he said undaunted.

"I wasn't. Well, I was bored so I nicked some firewhisky from Sirius and convinced Hermione to test the cards with me, the light cards of course" he said when he saw George's glare.

"There is something wrong with them, seems like they go to the next level when you Finnish one, so we ended up at the hard cards." George started to laugh, it sounding like howling. Fred just looked at his brother inexpressive until he stopped, gasping for air.

"So you kissed Hermione, big deal? She's good looking" George finally said.

"Yeah about that… we more like snogged heavily for almost an hour – we were quite drunk, and then she just stood up and ran away. She has not looked or talked to me ever since. It's so awkward". He had his hands in his hair, looking unwell.

"Well, shit" George whispered, not knowing what to say, trouble with the ladies was a seldom topic among them. They'd never had problems with them before.

"So you fancy her now, is it so?" Fred stared at him with horror in his eyes

"Of course I don't, she's too young and Ron's best friend. It will get nasty. It was just fun at the moment, nothing more" George didn't buy it, knowing his brother, but he was not in the mood for an argument when Fred clearly was in denial. He knew that if Fred was not interested, he would not care about being ignored by her.

"All right" he said, "what's the problem then? Just talk to her, clean up and let things slip back to normal" Fred sighted, knowing he was right.

They sat in silence for a while, George trying not to start laughing again, Fred looking nauseas in the corner. George could not hold it any more, as he started to shake

"You can't be that bad at kissing, can you?" Fred was on the way to throw a shoe at him, but was interrupted mid-movement by George's voice.

"Ay Fred! Speaking of Hermione, isn't that her in the hallway, banging her head against the wall?"

* * *

 _His lips touched hers gently and lingered for a while before pulling away. "Wasn't that bad, was it?" he said smiling. Hermione smiled to, and giggled a little to her own annoyance. His hand was still at her neck and his face very close. Her eyes found his and the smile faded, his eyes and mouth seemed to glow. The room felt hot, like it was suddenly 40*C inside. She did not know who started it, but suddenly they could not get enough of each other. They moved closer and closer, his nose touching hers before their lips met in a passionate kiss. One of his hands twirled itself inside her hair, the other one resting on her hip; her hands were doing the same - one in his hair and one at his shoulder. Their tongues started a dance together, neither of them willing to let go just yet. They sat like that on the floor for what seemed like a few minutes, but in reality were much longer. She sat herself on top of his lap, one foot to each side of him bringing them closer, her drunken mind giving her courage. He started to kiss down her jawline, down the throat where he found a sensitive spot which made Hermione moan. Their hands started to wander over each other's bodies. He felt things getting tighter as she rocked a little on his lap. "ohh!" was all she said and looked at him, clearly feeling it too. She lent in and kissed his lips letting go of them she moved down his jawline, down his throat ending at the hollow in his collarbone. His grip around the hip became tighter as he moaned silent. She had never felt anything like this before. Not with Ron, nor Viktor._

Ron…

 _She stopped and stiffened in his grip, leaning back from him. A sudden panic got her, what was she doing? She looked into his face, which was a mixture of question and worry. Quickly she got up and ran out of the room. She heard him calling after her._

* * *

Hermione banged her head at the wall. She felt like she had cheated Ron. How could she dry-hump his brother only a few weeks after their 'break-up'? She did not see herself as the type of girl that went from one boy to another, or one brother to another she thought with a shrug. _You have never been Ron's girlfriend now,_ a little voice in her head said, _you are just his friend, and you never have have to be anything else - They do not know the future._

She had to admit to herself that she was relived over that her relationship with Ron now back in the past were stabled at friends, and she was sure that she would never go for a relationship with him again. However, she still had a feeling that Ron would not appreciate that she had snogged his brother. And she had an icky feeling that Fred was laughing at her, playing with her head. She did not believe that there was a manufacturing fail that had switched the cards to level hard.

"Emm, hi Hermione, what are you doing?"

She stopped banging her head and turned around. Fred was standing in front of her in his school uniform and shaggy hair. _Damn he look good_ the little voice in her head said again.

"uh, hi" she said waiving with her hands "just doing my prefect duties".

He looked a bit amused "does that include banging your head against a wall?" he said with a smirk.

She did not know what to answer, so she just stared at him. They stared at each other as both seemed to have lost their ability to speak, the silence growing thicker and more uncomfortable by the second.

"I'll head back to the others" she said shaky and started to walk off.

"Wait!" He gripped her arm "we need to talk about something," he said serious and determined. "This really is not the time or place," Hermione said while trying to get out of his grip. All she wanted to do was to ignore him. "There will never be a good time, and a place.. let's go in here" he said as he opened a toilet door and dragged her in with him.

"So, what is it?" Hermione said crossing her arms in defence.

"You've been avoiding me" Fred said and mirrored Hermione's actions and crossed his arms to.

"You have been avoiding me to" Hermione said weakly.

"I have not, and you know it. But this is stupid, we are going to live in the same house for a year know, having mutual friends. I will not things to be awkward, it's too tiresome."

Hermione looked down at the floor and realised he was right, she had enough to think about without some teenage drama. Her hands dropped down to her sides "I'm sorry" she said, "I was just really confused, don't know exactly what happened," she said with a shy smile and shrug with her shoulders. "I think you know what happened, I'm too sexy to handle" he said with a wink, and earned a surprisingly hard slap on his arm from Hermione. "But let's go back to being friends, okay?" he said and held out his hand, waiting for her to shake it. She took it hesitantly and shocked it.

* * *

Hermione sat in her favourite chair by the fireplace in the common room. She had a book in her lap, which to others looked like a normal schoolbook, but indeed was her diary . She was really pissed off, after a heavy argument with some of the Gryffindor girls who thought Harry was lying. She was trying to figure out how she was going to change events from happening, without being caught with her knowledge by her friends.

She dipped the quill in the ink, ready to write down everything she remembered that made a difference to the war. If she was going to make it, she needed a well-structured plan. She decided to start with the small things. Harry was not to get any detentions with Umbridge this year. and she sure as hell was getting rid of that locket as fast as possible.

Now that she knew what she would do, the question was how.


	5. DADA

So I know it has been a long time since I last posted anything, and I know this is an awful short chapter. Sorry. The reason is that I have had some severe writer-block, and a generally busy life lately, so writing has not been a great priority unfortunatly. As always sorry for the typos, not first language and not-working grammar control, my bad exscuses for you.

Enjoy!

* * *

Hermione woke up early September second despite of the late night before. She got herself quietly out of bed, grabbed her robes and a clean towel and went to the bathroom. She examined herself in the mirror with some shock, she was still not used to see herself so young and with scar clean smooth skin, but the real difference was her hair. Over the years, the bushiness of her hair had tamed down, but at fifteen it was a proper bird-nest in the morning.

I must do something about this she thought to herself as entered the shower. After a long quiet shower, she felt much better about herself and ready for the day. In the commonroom she was first met by a hasty Seamus, before Harry and Ron entered the common room. Harry looked angry she noted, and remembered that Seamus had not believed Harry in the beginning. She usually liked that boy, but she knew he would come around eventually she thought with a sigh.

"what is up with your hair!?" Ron asked tackles as always, looking at her like she'd grown a second head. She gave him a dirty look, no need to be rude.

"I'm just trying something new" she mumbled, not meeting his gaze. It wasn't that much of a change anyways she thought with a shrug, the only difference was letting her hair airdry, and for the love of god, never putting a comb into it dry, ever again. She could not wait for the cream Ginny introduced her to five years from now would come by owl post.

Harry only shrugged, "looks nice" he said with a small smile.

As they went towards the portraithole, she noticed something on the wall; Fred and George's poster about try-outs for skivingsnacks were blocking everything else.

"The nerve of those to, this takes the cake!" she exclaimed, getting angrier by the second. She knew this would happen, and she really did support their goal of having a joke shop, having seen their brilliant magic and how well it would go. But she knew first-hand how wrong it could get with their products - there was no way in hell they were trying it out on innocent first years.

"Ron, we have to talk to them, this can't go on," she said, giving him a determined look. Ron did not look particular enthusiastic about it as he gave Harry a frightened glance and gazed at his feet.

"Why us? I don't see how that is necessary" he said, as she tore down the paper from the wall and showed it in the trashcan.

"Because we are prefects, and their products can be dangerous," she snapped at him, annoyed over the fact that he was afraid to stand up to his brothers.

Hermione looked down at the book she was supposed to read, 'this is absolute bullshit' she thought to herself, as she distant flipped the pages. She had figured out that the easiest way to get Harry out of detention was to not to question Umbridge in class. As she flipped the next page, she felt her anger for the repulsive witch blossom once again.

«Yes, miss, what is your question? » She heard Professor Umbridge say. Hermione snapped her head and eyes up and looked around the classroom, who had raised their hand? Her eyes fell on Hannah Abbot, whom looked a bit upset. «Miss Abbot, professor, I wondered what your goals are, are we not to preform practical defence against dark magic? » she said with an uncertain and determent voice.

Professor Umbrigde smiled her sugar sweet smile as she answered, making her look even more as a toad than she did before. «That is true, miss Abbot, I am here to make sure that all of you get a ministry approved education, and I am sure that if you study hard enough you will pass your OWLs outstanding». As the conversations around Hermione got heated and loud, she felt her blood turn cold and everything went into slow motion. She barely noticed that Harry now was standing, screaming to Umbridge that Lord Voldemort had returned. The slam of the door as Harry left the room snapped her out of the trance she'd been in.

Fred dead, Lupin dead, Tonks dead, Sirius dead, Lavender dead, Mad-Eye dead and so many more. A headache crept up her neck and nestled itself in the front of her head as the only thought she was able to think was "maybe it is impossible to change the past, maybe I have to relive my life only to watch people I love die".

* * *

That was it! Will try so update soon.


	6. Dumbledore's office

AN: I have finally decided which direction I am going with this, and have made some changes in the previous chapters, as there was parts there that I was not that happy about. None so big that you have to read it again if you have already read it. The biggest change (for the story) is that Hermione's parents spell was not possible to remove. I did that so that she would have more regrets over past actions. I have also (finally) figured out how to work the word document (turns out my grandmother is better with computers than me)… It took me some time to get used to write English again, as I have not written English for five years. But I finally feel comfortable to write in it again so updates will probably come faster now. If you are hoping for some Fremonie action in this chapter, I am sorry.. The couple will move slowly from here. I had originally planned to follow the canon as far as I could, and I think I will do that for a while forward, but I will eventually go off in another direction.

* * *

Hermione sat in a corner of the library, in the most deserted corner of the room, hoping that no one would notice her. Not that she thought that they would. When she reflected over the last time she went to Hogwarts, she remembered that never did anyone other than Harry interrupt her studies, and today, he had detention.

Two days had passed since Harry's outburst in class, and Hermione had been researching ever since. The table was filled with books, some written in runes and French, but that did not bother her. She was focused on finding an explanation and a reason to why she travelled back, and how.

She didn't notice the little first year that were standing next to her table, staring at her with big scared eyes tightly gripping an envelope. She didn't notice him before he was carefully nudging her arm.

"What!" she snapped, turning her head quickly to tell the intruder to bugger off. When she saw the pleading and scared face of the child, her face softened.

"I was tasked to give this to you" the boy stammered and gave her the envelope. Before she could ask him anything, he had run off.

Hermione inspected it carefully, throwing a few spells on it to look for anything dodgy. It was a habit she'd acquired after the hate mail in her fourth year. However, this seemed completely safe and she opened it carefully.

It was a letter from Dumbledore she vindicated quickly, recognising the winding and crooky handwriting from Harry's letters during 6th year. It was short, and she read it nervously.

 _Miss Hermione Jean Granger_

 _Please report at my office at eight this evening._

 _Liquorice wand_

 _Headmaster Dumbledore_

Hermione realised that this meant that Dumbledore knew that something was up, and wanted to get to the bottom of it. She looked at the clock and it was half past seven. As she slowly packed up her things, she went over in her mind what to tell the headmaster. She was afraid that he would dismiss her, or force her to not make changes, or simply believe that she had lost her mind. However, she had valid arguments if her thoughts on the timetravel was right.

She'd been walking so slow that the clock was five on when she reached the gargoyle outside of Dumbledore's office.

"Liquorice wand" she told him and he stepped aside to let her pass through to the rotating staircase. She knocked on the door three times and waited patiently for an answer.

"Come in Miss Granger" she heard him say, and she opened the door carefully and stepped into his office.

"Be a dear and take a seat," he said with a smile while she closed the door after herself.

"Lemon drop?" he offered when she was seated. Hermione politely declined and waited for him to begin. Dumbledore observed her carefully, and Hermione could not help but feel a little unease under his stare. She had learned occulamatly last year, or six years from now if you decided to look at it from that perception. However, she knew that it would be impossible to withstand Dumbledore under pressure.

"So, Miss Granger, I have an inkling you have something to tell me, that something has changed?" Dumbledore started, looking at her with a little twinkle in his eye.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" she asked back, not sure where to start. She also wondered how he could have catched on to her.

"I will answer your question, but I need to know what happened to do so properly. As it is now, I am twirling between five possibilities, none of them likely. And I promise you, I will not think of you as, what is the term the youth use… a complete nutter."

"Well um, yes... if I only knew where to start" Hermione said

"The beginning is always a great place," Dumbledore said with a twinkle.

"If you know where the beginning is, maybe," Hermione said with a sigh. "Do you think it is possible to travel back in time, not in your body, but with your soul?" She asked, Dumbledore only raised an eyebrow for her to continue.

"The beginning is seven years forward in time, I was swimming in the sea, and I drowned. I died. I woke up as fifteen-year-old me at Grimmauld's place, without my scars from the battles. At first, I thought that I was dreaming, maybe even hallucinating, but as time went on it became clearer and clearer that it was true. That I actually have travelled back in time." Hermione looked at him anxiously, would he believe her, or were the healers already preparing her bed.

Dumbledore observed her closely. Hermione felt like she was being ex-rayed and did her best to push the right memories for him to see. The beach, the swimming, being dragged under, wakening up at Grimmaulds place.

"Well, this is extraordinary" he suddenly said, and moved to one of the instruments standing on the table, "it leaves out at least two of my theories."

"Which theories?" Hermione asked quizzically before she could stop herself. The great respect for the headmaster still strongly inherent, making it difficult to answer or question him. Dumbledore seemed undaunted by her question as he came back to sit by his desk.

"My theories to what happened to you over the summer. You see, I have this fine gadget, an invention I myself created, that shows the envelopment of one's persons, skills and personalities. It measures the envelopment of the inhabitants of Hogwarts, from the day they step into the school to the day they step out of it, graduated. I usually do not look at it, as I feel it steps over quite a few boundaries of privacy. However, this fall when you stepped into school again it started to blow out smoke. That indicated that you had evolved drastic over the summer, to so big degrees that my little gadget did not quiet down before this morning. At first, I was worried that you were some sort of imposter, but the fact that it is impossible to fool this gadget because it recognises one's souls and magic made me resolve to ask you why. My worst fear was that you had been meddling with some extremely dark magic, which is not something I would like for anyone, especially someone with your brain."

"So you believe me?" Hermione asked, processing this knew information fast. "How come Croach was an imposter all of last year without you noticing?"

"Observant, and yes to answer your question, I believe you. For Crouch, as I said, I do not have a habit for looking at it. I had almost forgotten I made it all those years ago until the other night. It also only measures people that are underage." Dumbledore's tone stopped Hermione from asking further questions on the matter.

"Do you have any theories for how this occurred?" He asked her, looking at her with expectation.

"I do, sort of. But I am certain there are some holes in my theory"

"A theory is but a theory, closer to the answer, but not the whole thing. Maybe your theory will enlighten my theories. Please continue," He said.

"My theory is that, well, I have this necklaces that I got as a present from a friend and I have worn it ever since. I had this necklace on me when I died, and it was the only thing that still was present when I woke up at Grimmauld's. The clothes I had been wearing, my scars, everything disappeared when I died. If it had not been for that necklace, I would have been sure I was dreaming. I was told that the neckless was made from the glass of a dozen broken timeturners. I have a theory that all the different kinds of time-magic, made it react the way it did. All that glass, all that sand is filled with powerful magic. I've also read that big wishes, big regrets can make magic do unexpected things."

"Can I see the piece?" Dumbledore asked intrigued. Hermione carefully touched her neck, but did not want to part from it. She could not remember the last time she took it off, and she did not want it to end up in the department of mysteries to be examined. Dumbledore saw Hermione's reluctances to give it away, "I will give it back straight away" he assured her and reached out his hand. She decided to trust him once more.

Dumbledore carefully took it, and looked at the twirling sand inside. He waved his wand at it a couple of times, before he looked at it with excitement in his eyes. Hermione noticed how his left hand, which hold the drop, was twisting to do a certain movement.

"Would you mind if I keep it for examination?"

"Yes, I would" she said, shocked by her own boldness.

"This is not the Pervell's stone." She continued and looked him in the eyes. His whole body froze visibly before he carefully handed it back, as if nothing had happened. Hermione put it back on, hiding it under her robes, feeling herself calm down to the comforting feeling of its weight on her chest.

She once again met Dumbledore's eyes, and felt for the first time frighten by him. He didn't look at her hostile, more thoughtfully. The gleam in his eyes reminded her that this was the man who made Harry live with the Dursleys, the man who sent three teenagers out on a deadly mission without any clues, the man who fed Harry to die by Voldemort's hand.

"I guess you know a lot," he finally said.

"Yes I do, and it is what I wanted to discuss with you" she continued, and decided that this had to either make it, or break. If she did not tell her case, she was sure that she would most defiantly walk out of his office without her memory.

"I lived through this, and survived the war. I know where thing went wrong and I know how to end it. I know every deatheater, I know who we can trust, who we can save, who we cannot trust, and most importantly, I know how to kill Voldemort. I believe that when I was sent back in time, I was sent back in a way that made me able to lessen the pain, end it sooner and spare us for more losses. I don't think the time loop that occurred when I travelled in my third year exist this time, because then it would have been two Hermione Grangers, the 22 year old, and the 15 year old. I think I died, and fate or something like that gave me a chance to put things right. Do a better job this time. I know that you won't know for sure how to kill Voldemort before April 1997, I know for sure today." She had spoken loud and clearly and was now almost breathless. She looked at him with eagerness, praying for him to believe her, to see that this was their chance to end it all before it started.

His face was stone cold as he answered.

"That is an interesting theory miss Granger, but I am not sure if I can put my faith to it"

She felt the flicker of hope she'd desperately maintained die, and the panic creeping into her like a dementors cold. She tightly gripped her wand on the inside of her robe.

* * *

AN: Dadaduuum! This is my attempt of a cliffhanger. I will try to update regularly from now on, as my ideas are jumping out of head… Whatever will Dumbledore do?


	7. Dumbledore's office 2

Thank you so much for kind revives; it motivates me so much to continue writing!

* * *

Hermione was laying in her bed, slightly shaky after the events of the long evening. She gently touched her necklace, thinking over what this meant. Her meeting with Dumbledore had almost gone completely wrong, and she was experiencing the after match.

Flashback

"But I am willing to make an exception for now" Dumbledore continued in a tiered voice. His whole posture had changed in a matter of seconds, and he looked like the old man that he actually was. The look of defeat was baffling.

"Tell me everything" He said and met her brown eyes with his blue.

"Thank you, headmaster," Hermione said with gratefulness in her voice, the relief flowing through her in waves and she carefully let her wand-arm relax. She saw that the headmaster realised that she knew exactly why she was thanking him, as shame crossed his face for a second. He had realised that she knew what he had been about to do. Hermione started her tale, carefully selecting her words.

"There are quite a lot to tell, and I am not sure where to start, nor how much to tell you. I will start with what happened, thence we'll see what went wrong. I shall try to tell things as accurate I remember it." With an approving nod from the headmaster Hermione continued.

"In my originally fifth year, we didn't know much, I Harry and Ron. We knew that the order was watching something that Voldemort wanted to use, some kind of weapon, but we didn't know what it was. We only had speculations from what we manged to overhear from Order members and our own imagination. It was a confusing and scary time, we had a lot of theories of what it was, which of course made thigs even worse. Harry is having visons about Voldemort, this is something you know. That is especially when he sleeps, when his mind is vulnerable. Right now, it is only I and Ron who knows how frequent it happens. At Christmas this year, Mr. Weasley will get attacked by Nagini, Voldemort's pet-snake, Harry sees this in a dream, and made sure to notify you so that Mr Weasley's life was saved. Voldemort had previously been unaware of his connection to Harry, and that he could sense his emotions. This lead to that you wanted to make sure that Harry learned occulamancy so Voldemort would not have access to his mind, which didn't go that well. Snape was his teacher, and his hatred for James Potter makes him incapable to teach Harry anything, at least something as advanced as occulamancy. You wanted to teach Harry occulamacy so that Voldemort would not create false visions and lure Harry into a trap. This eventually happened and Sirius was killed in a fight". Hermione noted a change in Dumbledore, his eyes was distant as if he was seeing something not present. "Voldemort wanted Harry to fetch the prophecy for him, as he obviously cannot walk into the ministry now, exposing himself."

"This led to that you told Harry about the prophecy and why Voldemort is so obsessed with him. During our sixth year, you had private lessons with Harry, where you wanted to teach Harry about him. You covered his past on what made Voldemort the man he has become. You collected memories from Tom's past and early relationships and showed Harry through the pensive what he covet. Together you learned that Voldemort made Horcruxes, seven in its amount". '

Hermione paused for a moment, letting the information settle.

"He made a Horcrux?"

"He made horcruxes, plural" Dubledore looked slightly ill.

"I had suspicions, but… Please continue"

"Um, yes. You and Harry left the school one night to retrieve one of the horcruxes - Harry had for a long time suspected that one of our peers had become a Death Eater, and told us to keep watch that night. Harry was right, and that night Malfoy succeeded to sneak a dozen Death Eaters into the castle. Malfoy had been tasked to sneak them in, as a revenge for Lucius's mistakes earlier, and had a mission to kill you. We learned afterwards that you knew about this, and didn't interrupt Draco Malfoy because you wished that he would turn to the light side. As you phrased it yourself, you wanted to save his _soul.."_ She empathised the last word with venom in her voice. "He won't come to his senses before it's to late" she said with an annoyed huff. "You had made a deal with Snape, as both of you knew that you were dying caused by an incurable curse. It was also your way to prevent that the Elderwand didn't turn its will to someone you didn't trust."

"After your death, we realised that it would not be long before Voldemort gained more power and would take control over the ministry. We decided to skip our last year of school to look for horcruxses. We eventually found them and Harry killed Voldemort".

Hermione looked at Dumbledore unsure of how much more to revile. She was afraid that too much information would do more harm than good, and that it would not work for the best. She decided to wait, and let him figure out some things out for himself. By the time she had finished her story, Dumbledore was looking at his wand with a deep frown.

"I suspect that there are things you have left out," Dumbledore said in a light tone.

"That might be"

Dumbledore gave her a thoughtful look but left it at that.

"So what are your suggestion for me to do miss Granger?"

"My suggestion is that you stop ignoring Harry, nothing good will come of it. I also strongly suggest that you tell him of professor Telewany's prophecy of him and Voldemort. He can handle it. All of us left our childhood behind by the time we reached second year. That is nothing you should even think about. In the meantime, I will try to change the small things"

"I will consider it," Dumbledore answered.

"No, you won't consider it, you'll do it. I am not part in your plan to make Harry feel alone, nor a part of your ' _greater good'"_

His gaze was penetrating, but she refused to back down, some things were just not right.

"Is there something troubling you?" he asked her with a frown.

"Um, yes" she said, "I have a worrying observation. Some days ago, I deliberately did something in class to prevent Harry from getting detention with Umbridge. Last time I asked her some questions about her teaching, which triggered Harry to tell her that Voldemort is back. This time I did not, but he still managed to get detention. I am worried that, maybe I can't change things"

"Am I right to assume that someone else did what you did not do in your place?" he asked. Hermione answered with a nod.

"To change time is a tricky thing Miss Granger, as one never knows how others will react to new situations. Some events will always be impossible to prevent, because someone else will take the place you abended and left free. The more we change, the more will be uncertain. Therefore, we must only change things that are necessary, things that will not leave people with too many new options of action"

This was a possibility Hermione herself had thought about, and could not help but agree too. Even if it was an unpleasant thought.

"Miss Granger, could I perhaps examine your necklace one more time? I just realised something" she doubtfully and reluctantly handed over her neckless again.

"Interesting… Is the person who gave you this close to you, and did he or her die during the first time?" Without waiting for a reply he continued, "I think some sand of time was mixed with the sand of love, the sand of faith and… the sand of…. It cannot be right... the sand of life"

"that is an interesting combination and I must say, incredibly dangerously dealt with the wrong way"

"What does that mean headmaster?"

"The sand of love symbolises the uncommitted love, the love you have for someone no matter what they become or do, like a mothers love to her child. The sand of faith represents the faith every person have for what they believe in, some muggles place it in a God, some place it in a leader and some place it in their belief in what is right or wrong. It is the faith you have in something so strong you are willing to die for it. The sand of life represents life, and everything combined with life. It represents what makes life, and what makes it worth living. The essence of love and faith is strongly presented in the sand of life ".

"I am not sure of what it means, but I think I am safe to say that you meant a great deal to the person who gave you this. And that I also think that most of your consumptions are in fact, correct."

"Which of my consumptions?"

"I think, but we cannot say for sure, that the person who gave you this loves you greatly and that the combination of his or hers love in the making of this necklace, made the unconventional combinations of sand react in an unconventional way. It gave you your life again when you died with your life missions unfulfilled. You are resurrected from the dead, and are given a second chance to fulfil your destiny. I think as well that this makes you able to change the future, but we must be careful of the butterfly effect. We must keep this information to ourselves, as you understand it is dangerous information knowing the future, and can be gravely misused by the wrong people".

Hermione nodded, it was a conclusion she herself had come upon.

"Dumbledore, I will insist that I come with you when we retrieve and kill the Horcruxes,".

"That is a dangerous mission"

"With all due respect Headmaster, I have after all done it before. I can be at great help, as two wands beat one it is not the most dangerous thing I have done".

Dumbledore calculated her for a while before he resultant nodded to himself.

"That is well, I'll call for you when it is time, and I'll pass a note when I wish to speak to you again about this topic"

"Good, because I already have one in my possession" Hermione replied with a sly smile.

* * *

AN: This took me a while to post. I have actually had it practically ready for two months, but I have never felt that it has been good enough to post. Therefore, I decided to just post it now so that I can move on with the story. I annoys me so much that I never get it the way I want it and imagined it in my head. Anyways, here it is. Btw, One of the other reasons for that it is so late is because of that Dumbledore, a difficult character to write indeed.

AN: I wanted to write Dumbledore as a part of the team, not as a bad guy which I often see in fic's. He is still not a grandpa, and his actions are questionable, but he will cooperate to some degree. I also wanted to make a little twist on the whole time-travel fic, without all of the unbreakable bods and oaths etc.


	8. Who is the enemy?

**AN: Aaaand, I'm back, juhuu :D Here is the new chapter, and I must say, I have done some changes in previously chapters, again…. I was reading through the story before I wrote the new chapters, and noted several mistakes and thigs I had forgotten….. So I changed, no, added a little more. I will try to stop doing that from now on. The thing is that I make the story up as I write, and suddenly realise that I must add something I forgot because I want to write something into a chapter… If you don't want to read the whole thing again, I can tell you short that Hermione retrieved the Locket-Horcrux when she stayed at Grimmauld Place. Not much more of importance, but I will recomend you to read the ending of the last chapter to understand wtf is going on in this.**

 **I will not promise regular updates, as that basically is a promise from me to not update for six months… So maybe I'll be regular now? *three knocks on the wood, spit behind shoulder***

 **Please read and review, I love to hear you thoughts on the story!**

* * *

Dumbledore's eyes opened wide and the man shot out of his chair with the excitement force of a man at least sixty years younger.

"To kill a Horcrux we need Basilisk venom or fendyefire" he said, before both looked at Godric Griffingdor's sword on the shelf.

"can you retrieve the object tonight?" he asked, and Hermione nodded. "Yes, I have it hidden with my belongings, I can go and find it now?" she answered.

"Yes, that would-be god"

Hemione hurried back and forth to her dormitories as fast as she could. The horcrux was hidden in her jewlery box in a secret pocket. She was back at his office before hardly any time had passed.

"Here it is headmaster" she said as she gasped for air, clinging her hand to the side which was stinging after the long spurt. Dumbledore took the locket from her and inspected it carefully before he but it on his desk. Hermione came further into the room, and followed closely Dumbledore's actions. The sword was carefully placed on the desk next to the locket.

 **"** It will put up a fight" she eventually said.

"Would expect as much of Voldemort" he answered. He looked at her over his half-moon spectacles, his blue glance meeting hers. "Do you want the honour, Miss Granger?" he asked and gestured with a small hand movement towards the locket.

"I-I, I forgot something," Hermione realised with a horrification, "we must open it, but to do so we must speak 'open' in parseltounge", "but, it don't know if we should involve Harry just yet…"

"I can try to it, but it was Ron who did it last", Dumbledore gave her a quizzical look and she elaborated.

"We needed basilisk venom, but Harry wasn't available to go down to the chamber, so Ron and I went without him, we had heard Harry speaking parseltounge previously".

She lifted the sword ready to strike the locket and tried to remember the wheezing sound Ron had spoken when they entered the chamber together. She wheezed out something that sounded like "hrssza", feeling like an idiot. Nothing happened, and she tried again. On the fifth try the locket snapped open. Hermione who had lost faith that it would work was taken off guard, the room was filled with a blinding light a whirvelvind, making it hard to stand on their feet. Suddenly the light disappeared, and was replaced by two people.

"Mum, dad?" Hermione muttered as she stared at them.

When the creature that resembled her mother spoke, it wasn't her mother voice. "Hermione, you will fail again, like you did last time. You are nothing but a failure, pushing us. An egotistical monster who will destroy us. We don't want you in our life anymore, you can take our memories, we're better off without you". Suddenly Harry and Ron appeared, "we only hang out with you to do our homework, it has never been anything else. I don't want your help" Harry said, he felt back into the background and Ron made his appearance "you cheated on me, you WHORE" Ron screamed "do you honestly believe that you'll be able to destroy the dark lord, you pathetic girl". Suddenly Fred appeared, looking at her with hatred so real it made her knees wobble "you killed me and you know it. You should have drowned in the ocean, no one wants you here. You are so pathetic, did you honestly believe I cared for you? It is just a prank, to see how far I could get."

Hermione felt tears deceitfully running down her chin, just as a Dumbledore replaced Fred. "Why are you helping me? You know I will kill all you love ones, more of them than The Dark Lord ever will. Don't you see who the danger is? I will kill Harry, you know I will. The greater good." She heard a sharp intake of breath to her right, and turned to look at Dumbledore. "The Dark Lord will mercy you and your friends for killing him"

"Hermione, you know its lying" he said calm and intense.

"I am just as much your enemy as The Dark Lord, he wants to kill Harry too. You know I'm not lying" the locket-Dumbledore proceeded.

Hermione closed her eyes to gather her mind, who am I, WHO AM I, her mind screamed. She was Hermoine Granger, muggleborn, mudblood, bestfriend of Harry Potter, brightest witch of her age. Voldemort is my enemy. With a scream she lifted the sword again over her head – her arm had fallen limp to the side. With force she smashed the it into the locket, a load scream filling the air.

Thick silence filled the office.

Hermione rose to her feet, and glanced at the headmaster, he looked… thoughtful…

It did not sit well with her, and a sickening feeling filled her guts.

 **Flashback ends**

"Hermione, are you coming down with me to the common room?"

It was Ginny, who'd popped inside to check on her.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Hermione replied with fake a smile and enthusiasm that she hoped sounded sincere. She quickly tucked her necklace under her shirt and collected her mind to steer away from the dark path they were going.

But she could not help but to think that the locket was right, her family and friend was better off without her and that her decision to trust Dumbledore would come back and bite her in the arse.

* * *

Hope you liked it!


	9. Sunday

Here is the next one. I Have had a few quite buzzy moths behind me, with life and, you know, just finishing off my bachelor degree (sneak bragging, quite modest). Now I finally have some time to write again, it's wonderful! The next update is not too far away, I'm halfway through with the next chapter already.

This chapter will feature some fremoine :)

* * *

It was Sunday afternoon and Hermione enjoyed what she reckoned was one of the last weekends with sunny weather of the year by reading a book on the schoolground. It seemed like all the students who were able to, were enjoying the fine weather, lazing off with a book or a game together with friends. Hermione was feeling quite content and didn't mind the solitary of it. Harry and Ron were inside trying to catch up with their homework. She was letting them sweat for at least five more hours before she would take pity on them, and could not find it in her to feel any guilt for making them work all day.

"Hey, do you mind if we join you?"

Hermione looked up and noticed to her surprise that it was Lavender and Parvati who were talking to her. She tried to smile, but sensed that it looked more like a grimace by their looks of sudden uncertainty.

"mhrrm" she grunted with a hoarse voice, she ended up with a hand gesture inviting them to sit, as nothing else seemed to work today.

"So how have your first week been, Hermione?" Lavender inquired with an innocent smile. Something smelled fishy, and Hermione felt a slight feeling of unease.

"Quite well, how about you?" she answered polite.

"oh, you know, same old same old" she replied easily with a little smile. Silence filled the space and Hermione persuaded to open her book again to continue. Before she could fall back into the literary world, Parvati asked "Are you still seeing Viktor Krum?"

Ah, gossip, of course, Hermione thought with a frown.

"We are friends" Hermione replied short, not interested in a conversation about hers and Viktor relationship to Hogwarts voices of gossip.

"So, you're single then?" Lavender proceeded with interest.

"I guess so, as far as I know at least" she said with a frown. What was up with these girls today? They had never tried to have "girl talk" with her before. Lavender let out a content sigh as she dramatic fell back on her back.

Just then a wave of laughter reached them, and all three turned to see Fred, George and Lee laying spread on the ground howling with laughter. It seemed like it was something Lee had said as he was waving with his hands fanatic.

"they are so annoyingly handsome" Parvati muttered as she looked and them, Lavender agreeing with a prominent "mhm!" and for once, Hermione completely agreed with them. They were all carelessly laying on the ground, uniform improper and with an air around them filled with an effortless attitude of nonchalance. The sun in their face highlighted their already handsome features. Hermione absentminded remembered the feeling of Fred's hair, and imagined letting her hands run through it. The cool wind was making it even more shaggy than it normally was. She quickly shook her head, what was she thinking?!

Just then, as the three of them were staring at the three laughing boys, Fred's eyes met Hermione's. He sent her a playful wink before he turned to talk to Lee again. She felt her cheeks redden at the stares the girls sent her, Lavenders eyes filling with excitement.

"Do you and George have a thing?" She asked curiously.

"What!?" Hermione spluttered, "no we don't!" she laughed, realising that they thought it was George who winked at her.

"Come on Hermione, he just winked at you!" Parvati said with an expectantly smile.

"It was Fred that winked at me, and please give it a rest girls, I don't have a 'thing' with either of them. That's just Fred being Fred" she said with a shrug and started to gather her books.

"How can you tell a difference between them from so afar?!", "It was Fred?!" they exclaimed simultaneous.

"Fred doesn't do that, trust us we know. We know every 'flirt-habit' of every guy worth a thought in this school, and I promise you that the twins and Lee are high in the radar for most girls. Fred has this arrogant lazy smile, you know it right? He uses that when he mess with girls. He NEVER winks." Parvati said in a low conspiracy voice.

'Huh' Hermione thought to herself a bit bemused, 'never realised that these girls were that weird'. What the hell is a 'flirt-habit'?

"So sure about that? You know, you seem to have some troubles with deciding who's whom, sooo..." Hermione drawled, "I think we can settle the status as 'I am single and don't have a "thing" with anyone.'"

She finished gathering her stuff and rose to her feet, ready to walk back into the castle. "See you later, I just remembered I promised Harry that he could lend a book for his potions assignment" she said and waved goodbye. The not too subtle whispers that erupted after her departure was ignored as best as she could.

She didn't notice him before he was walking next to her. She squinted when he suddenly appeared next to her and gave her one of his typical smirks.

"Merlin's dirty pants, don't scare me like that" she gasped, suddenly very aware of her outfit. A light blue muggle sundress that reached mid-tie, with a top that showed a decent amount of cleavage. Her cloak was stuffed inside her bag, being to hot on a sunny day like this.

"Didn't mean to scare you" he answered, "your heading inside already?"

"Yeah, I think I'll head to the library for some peace and quiet"

Fred face morphed into one of shock, "you're going to sit in the library on a day like this!?" gesturing the blue sky.

Hermione gazed at the ground, "yeah, well… Mostly trying to avoid Lavender and Parvati… oh god, don't say I said it, but they can be quite annoying. though, they are nice girls and kind at heart, just not my cup of tea…"

He gave a little laugh, "yeah, they seem quite… talkative?",

"you could say so… where are you going then?" Hermione asked, changing the subject. A short glance over at George and Lee told her that they were still goofing off. She could not fathom why Fred was walking next to her,

"just to the kitchens, going to get some snacks", he seemed to hesitate a second before asking "do you want to join me?"

Hermione was taken by surprise by his question, "emm, eh, no, I have to, to…" she stammered. They had already reached the great hall and were standing in the bottom of the big stair. "oh, come on Hermione, whatever it is can wait" he said and grabbed her arm, dragged her with him down to the picture of the fruit bowl.

* * *

AN: That was it! What ever will happen on Fred and Hermione's little adventure?

Please leave a review of your thoughts in the story, i love to hear them! :)


	10. The Kitchen

They entered the kitchen laughing. Fred helped Hermione though the portraithole and put his hand innocently against her waist while he helped her. She tried her best to act normal, and not as if his hand against her waist were burning a hole in her shirt. The moment they were inside, all the elfs in the room turned their head to see what all the noise were about. Suddenly they were surrounded with the small creatures smiling from ear to ear.

"Mister wheezy, you've come back to visit!" one little elf shouted while grabbing the end of Fred's robe. "What will missis and missus want? We have many treats!" another one asked Hemione "we have tea and biscuits! Or will you rather want cake?"

Hermione tried to hide behind Fred as they were surrounded, trying to appear invincible. Over the years she had come to know and accept the way house-elfs were wired, but she didn't like it. They may like to serve, but for wizards owning other beings like an animal… She would not accept it. Just because something is a part of a culture, didn't meen it was good.

"Hello everyone!" Fred proclaimed with a big smile, "If we could have some butterbeers and some snacks we would be grateful! Do you have those crackers with strawberry filling? I love them!" He spoke to the elf who was holding his robe, whom seemed to be near fainting with excitement by being spoken directly to. "Yes, we will find you that! Mister Wheezy and pretty misses will not be disappointed!"

The moment after Fred had finished to speak, all the elves disappeared back to what they had been doing before. Fred turned to Hermione and raised his eyebrows.

"helpful little creatures" declared with a content smile on his face as he watched them hurry around the kitchen. Hermione bit her teeth together from refraining to say something, she wasn't in a mood to discuss her elf-rights. Fred seemed to catch her line of thoughts as his face reddened a bit and he tried to change the theme.

"makes it much less impressing when you brag about all the nicking from the kitchen at the parties in the common room, when the food is practically shoved at you" Hermione replied instead. Fred kluckled before he dropped to his knees before her.

"please don't rat us out, fair Hermione" He grabbed her hand pleading "my reputation in depending on you!" Hermione swatted his hand away, but could not help a little smile slipping through. "fine, your secret is safe with me"

Fred stood up and gave her a mock-bow before kissing her hand "thank you my Lady".

Thankfully, the elf was done with their food, and appeared next to Fred with a shockingly big amount of food. "Is this enough misters Fred?" the elf asked with a worried frown. "Yes, thank you, its just the right amount" Fred answered with a big smile.

Hermione hoped that he didn't notice her blush.

* * *

It turned out that sneaking out of the kitchen was much harder than sneaking into it. Firstly, they did not have the advantage of being able to see the hallway outside the portrait, secondly, they had their hands full of food. Hermine had stuffed as much as she could inside the pockets on her cloak and into her school bag, but there was still a lot left. Therefore, their hands were full. Fred carefully pulled his head out through the door to see if the coast was ready. When he saw that the corridor was empty he quickly pulled Hemione through the door with himself.

they stood in the hallway, giggling by the adrenalins of sneaking around, in the middle of the bright day no less. "Come," Fred said after a little while, and preceded to walk toward the great hall. Hermione had no choice but to follow. Fred stopped when they were halfway. The hallway was darkened by the dim lighting and the lack of windows, where he led them into an unused classroom. Inside the classroom it was brighter, the sun shone through the dusty squares. "What are we doing here?" she asked. "We have to fix ourselves a bit, we cannot meet teachers like this," Fred said and nodded towards his hands, which was full of butterbeer. He put everything he had in his hands of the closest desk.

Hermine regarded him silently and tried to ignore her inner voice, telling her she behaved childishly. This was something she would never do. Before. She felt that this might just be a rebellion after a near-death experience, but she liked the excitement too, and doing things she had always considered to be petty or childish was suddenly attractive to her.

Hermione noted that Fred was observing her from his peripheral vision. "What ?!" she exclaimed at the end when the silence became too small. "nothing," said Fred quietly, almost too low for her to hear.

He began to reorganize the foods and put a good deal on his inner pocket before turning to Hermione, beginning to empty her pockets for her. She froze quite quietly as his hands roamed her pockets, almost touching her ties... He put everything on the desk, before he transfigured everything to a big clock. "Now we are ready," he said with a happy smile. "The house-elfs would have a fit if they saw us transfiguration food that way! I would never get any food from them again".

They shared a little laugh. She noticed that he was standing very close. She hadn't really noticed how much he was invading her personal space, but she discovered that she didn't really mind. His face was very close to hers, and Hermione let her eyes drop to his lips. When she lifted her eyes to meet his once again the joyful expression had disappeared from his face, and left was a serious, almost hungry expression. Hermione felt her breath hitch at the difference, he was handsome no matter what, but he transformed from a teenager to a grown man in matter of seconds. His head dipped towards hers and she stretched her neck to meet him halfway. His lips met hers in a gentle kiss, before the door slammed open.

"well, well, well" the familiar drawl erupted their little moment, and made them jump away from each other in shock.

"not the Weasley I'd expect you to sully yourself with miss Granger" Snape continued, he sounded amused with an evil glint in his eyes.

"Detention tomorrow for both of you after dinner, for indecent behaviour in public…" If Hermione hadn't known better, she'd said he was finding the whole thing funny.

"now scram" he finally said with disdain and stepped aside to let them through the door.

* * *

Haha, i could not help my self, what more mortifying than getting caught by Snape?

Soo, I'm back after a long break, and I feel like I'm on a roll! Hopefully my next chaper will be up before the new year! Stay tuned, and please R&R!


	11. Blue Monday

Hermione was seated next to Harry in the great hall, eating her breakfast simultaneous trying not to lose her appetite by Ron's terrible table manners. It was the first day of the second week this term, and a few days had passed since the conversation with Dumbledore. She was slowly getting back into her old habits. She was trying to not think too much about her situation, since she knew that she had to concentrate on the big picture and not get affected by the small things she so dearly wanted to change.

"Merlin, I hate Mondays" Harry muttered under his breath as he poked the eggs on his plate. She could sympathise, the first week had been rough on everybody.

"Please Harry, try not to blow up on her this time, you've spent way too much time in detention with that foul woman!" she begged.

"It's not as if I try to!" he shot back indignantly. She had to hold back not to roll her eyes, his temper was all over the place. She gave him a stern glance and he seemed to get her point as he returned to his breakfast mumbling something which sounded like "I'll behave".

Hermione returned to the letter she was reading with an annoyed huff. She knew he would not behave.

 _Hey Hermione, we hope everything is well! Dad and I are so excited and proud over that you have been made prefect, you are such a smart girl and it is good to see that the school recognises it! Things are going great at the clinic, we had some troubles with the refurbishment, but everything has settled down now. We can't wait for you to see how nice it has become._

 _How is the new schoolyear treating you? You used to complain about one subject which always changes teacher, is the new one any good? It concerns me that they never find a capable teacher for a class, it cannot reflect well on the subject._

 _When are you coming home for Christmas this year? We were thinking about having a little family trip this Christmas, and it'll help us plan if we knew when you are coming home._

 _Miss you_

 _Love Mum and Dad._

The sickening feeling of guilt turned her stomach into a knot. She knew that she most likely would not return home for Christmas this year either, but she didn't know how to tell her mother. She was constantly downgrading them, and it bothered her greatly that she didn't know how to change it. After this summer where she barley had spent three weeks with them, she didn't know how to let them down. She knew she was hurting them, but she also knew that if she told them about the dangers in the wizarding world, they'd try to keep her away. She had not told them the dangers in her new world and life since first year. But she didn't blame them, if her daughter had been petrified for three months, she'd cause havoc. And that was the reason they never knew about it.

Hermione slowly reached for her glass of pumpkin juice with a frown, maybe she should try to tell them? That might save them in the long run. Her train of thoughts were abrupt aborted by a tall frame with a mop of red hair shoving itself in between her and Harry on the bench, the doppelganger of said making room on Harrys other side. Hermione nearly dropped her glass out of bewilderment, but quickly got her grip back on.

"Harry mate, we heard a rumour that you hate Mondays" George said as he put one arm over Harry shoulder and helped himself to fill his plate with the other.

"Well, yeah, you've seen my Monday schedule. It's my personal hell, created just for me". Harry answered grumpy.

"well, yeah, we've heard rumours about it… Can we tempt you with a Puking pastille? If you need it, you might puke on your own with Umbridge followed by Snape" Fred answered. Hermione noticed that Harry glanced at her before asking "are they safe?"

"Of course!" they answered, "we would never poison the boy who won't die!" "Yeah" Fred chimed in, "would be quite pointless, as you know, you won't die"

Hermione dipped her head into her letter to pretended that she didn't notice that George slipped a candy surrounded with bright green paper into Harry pocket. When she seemed the transformation done, she lifted her head to pay attention to them once again.

"Fred, George, you two have to stop testing your products on the first years". Hermione could see how their perplexion of her was sinking in their eyes. George had narrowed his eyes and Fred's back had gone completely straight. He was looking at her like she was a completely new person, and not in a good way.

"and why Hermione, would we do that?" George complied, "are you gonna stop us?" he said with a smirk, and a condescending laugh. Fred was silent, but he was looking at her with an expression she'd once seen Malfoy give her.

"why, you ask? I'm not going to dwell too long on the ethical problem of the fact that you as seventh-years, an authoritarian position compared to the first years, give them money for testing potential dangerous digestive magical substances, without informing them of what they have been given. The other reason, which think you should consider properly, is that you are breaking at least three rules of the law that I can site on the top of my head, not school rules, but the actual wizarding law. There are probably more laws, but I need to refresh my knowledge before I can give you a sentence. But with what I have, you'll get a month each in Azkaban if you're caught. So please stop."

Hemione was pleased that the condescending expressions were shifted to slightly worried frowns.

"If you don't believe me, you can look it up in " _The wizarding law – the making of new magical artefacts, potions and spells"_ it's in the library _._

She ignored the tense mood that had settled around the table and opened her issue of _the Daily Prophet_ with a decision to disappear into it until classes began.

* * *

Classes that day was horrid.

Harry managed to catch himself another detention with Umbridge and Snape had been giving her snide remarks during class about certain redheads to Ron's confusement and annoyance. To top it off she had received another note from Dumbledore, with a message for a meeting the next day.

When dinnertime finally came around she was so fed up with everything that the only thing she was wishing for was to go to sleep.

Harry was once again picking at his food, clearly upset about something, and she herself was silently fuming over the fact that she had ten minutes to eat before her detention with Snape.

"Harry, I have something to talk to you about after detention tonight, would you meet me in the commonroom?"

"Of course Hermione" It was clear by his tone that he sensed the importance, as his face was concentrated in a solemnly frown.

* * *

 **New chapter, a bit late... Sorry about that. I had originally planned to write the detention and the conversation with Harry in this chapter, but it took me longer than expected to write, so I decided on a shorter one. Hopefully I'll have it finished soon.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it, and please R &R! :D**


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